John Bell Hood had just replaced another man, Joseph E. Johnston, who had been in charge of the Confederate Army in Georgia for 6 months. The president of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis, wanted someone who would fight and not retreat. He felt that Johnston had been wrong to retreat across northwest Georgia.

Hood decided to attack the Union Army at Peachtree Creek at a site that is now in the city of Atlanta. He lost this battle on July_20, 1864. Two days later he attacked again in what is called the Battle of Atlanta. Moving to the east, he tried to flank Gen. James Birdseye McPherson. We say the left because if Gen. McPherson were looking straight ahead at the center of his line of troops the attack would be to his left. Hood came very close to winning the battle. McPherson died in the struggle. For a while Confederate forces attacked the Union line from both the front and rear simultaneously, but the Union Army withstood the assault and prevailed.

The Atlanta Campaign began on May_4, 1864, in Ringgold, Georgia, when General George Henry Thomas began to slowly move towards Dalton, Georgia. It ended on September_2, 1864 with the surrender of Atlanta. Many people confuse and in fact intertwine the Atlanta Campaign with the March to the Sea, a quick romp by the federal troops from northwest of Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia in just over a month, Nov - Dec, 1864.